to deem that the minister has: received from the Victorian Government a referral of its proposal to trial cattle grazing in the Alpine National Park; and decided that the trial of alpine grazing is unacceptable.

in relation to bilateral agreements by providing that: states and territories can be accredited for approval decisions on large coal mining and coal seam gas developments likely to have a significant impact on a water resource; all states and territories can be declared under the Act for the purposes of requesting advice from the Independent Expert Scientific Committee (IESC); states and territories undertake to seek and take advice form the IESC for approval bilateral agreements which may have a significant impact on a water resource; the IESC provide advice to the Commonwealth about the operation of a bilateral agreement in relation to large coal mining and coal seam gas developments likely to have a significant impact on a water resource; an approval process can be completed when an approval bilateral agreement is suspended, cancelled or ceases to apply to a particular action; state and territory processes that meet the appropriate standards can be accredited for bilateral agreements; a relevant bilateral agreement continues to apply to an accredited state or territory management arrangement or authorisation process despite minor amendments to the arrangement or authorisation process; and proponents do not need to make referrals to the Commonwealth for actions that are covered by an approval bilateral agreement.

to require the minister to be satisfied that a state or territory will not reduce or has not reduced its education budget before making a determination of Commonwealth school funding to that state or territory.

Introduced with the Asset Recycling Fund Bill 2014, the bill makes consequential amendments to the

COAG Reform Fund Act 2008

,

DisabilityCare Australia Fund Act 2013

,

Future Fund Act 2006

and

Nation-building Funds Act 2008

to: enable grants to the states and territories through the COAG Reform Fund; extend the Future Fund Board’s duties to manage the Asset Recycling Fund (ARF); and allow for amounts to be transferred between the ARF and Future Fund.

Introduced with the Asset Recycling Fund (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2014, the bill establishes the Asset Recycling Fund to: enable grants of financial assistance to be made to the states and territories for expenditure incurred under the National Partnership Agreements on Asset Recycling and Land Transport Infrastructure Projects; make infrastructure national partnership grants; and enable the making of infrastructure payments.

in relation to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and the Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme by: increasing the concessional patient co-payment by 80 cents from 1 January 2015; increasing the general patient co-payment by $5.00 from 1 January 2015; increasing the concessional safety net threshold by two prescriptions each year for four years, from 2015 to 2018; and increasing the general patient safety net threshold by 10 per cent each year for four years, from 2015 to 2018.